Experts however, blamed the loss on withdrawal of some foreign investors from the market as a result of the impasse over passage of 2018 budget.
Market statistics obtained showed that the market capitalisation which opened trading on May 21 at N14.660 trillion shed N416 billion or 2.84 per cent to close trading on May 25 at N14.244 trillion, just as ASI dipped 1,148.83 bps or 2.84 per cent to close trading on 39,323.62 compared with 40,472.45 it opened for the week.
The highest loss in the month so far was recorded on Thursday when the benchmark index dipped below the 40,000-mark, following a significant loss of 1.06 per cent, amidst sell offs of high-cap stocks, leaving the Year-to-date return at 2.83 per cent, while Month-to-Date loss stood at 3.74 per cent.
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Volume and value of trades were higher during the week by 27.52 per cent and 22.56 per cent, to 1.37 billion units and N16.02 billion, respectively, as Ikeja Hotel Plc emerged the best performing stock for the week, as it gained 44.94 per cent during the week, following the lift of the suspension imposed on its shares on Monday.
Sectoral analyses indicated that the Financial Services Industry, measured by volume, led the activity chart with 1.010 billion shares valued at N8.670 billion traded in 12,049 deals; thus contributing 73.62 per cent and 54.11 pper cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
The Services Industry followed with 107.246 million shares worth N229.715 million in 712 deals. The third place was occupied by Consumer Goods Industry with a turnover of 71.946 million shares worth N5.506 billion in 3,818 deals.
It is recalled that NSE has given the management of Eko Hotels Plc the approval to resume trading after reviewing the two-year suspension placed on the shares of the company on November 10, 2016.
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